By Jeff Dunn
The best way to enjoy Lamplighters’ production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood is not to be embarrassed by making a fool of yourself.
Why? Because 19 actors will be wandering around in the audience from time to time. Sooner or later, they will be in your face begging you to boo and hiss at them, clap and cheer for them, and even … think this coming November … vote for them. Do this, and you’ll help recreate the heady atmosphere that reigned for generations in British music halls—until alcohol was banned in them starting in 1914.
“…Brett Strader’s first-rate music direction is a pleasure …”
Edwin Drood disappears in Charles Dickens’ last novel, confounding the book’s other characters and readers as well. The novel was published in installments, but Dickens died suddenly after only half of them were written. Only Dickens knew how it was to end, though some hints were given to a friend of his.
Rupert Holmes wrote the book, lyrics, and music for this musical version, which premiered on Broadway in December 1985. To add levity to the rather dismal original, Holmes placed the mystery as a play about Drood presented in a Victorian/Edwardian music hall with actors who love to interact with the audience.
Jill Wagoner does a great job as the lead actor (“Chairwoman”) explaining to the audience that they are to vote for possible conclusions to Dickens’ work, and even choose Drood’s murderer (if he indeed was murdered). The actors immediately fly into the audience, vying for attention and audience-members’ votes, to be collected in Act 2.
The play then proceeds, but with the actors periodically breaking the fourth wall as livelier Victorian actor personalities with their own hopes and dreams, vs. their more dour Dickens roles. The three levels—21st-century actor, Victorian/Edwardian music-hall actor, and Dickensian character can get a tad confusing at times. (I found myself going back and forth between my 21st-century program and the Victorian/Edwardian “Dramatis Personae” handout to keep a handle on who’s who.)
Among the many cast members, Nathanael Fleming does a great job as the unstable and unseemly Jekyll/Hyde Jasper. Natalia Hulse exploits her lovely light, child-like soprano as Rosa, Jasper’s ward and music student. The song he forces her to learn, “Moonfall,” is the best in the show, with creepy lyrics oozing harmonies worthy of 1986’s Phantom of the Opera. Wayne Wong’s comic talents grab the audience as he portrays the “slosh”buckling alcoholic, Durdles. And Noah Evans delightfully overacts as the minor character Bazzard, who hopes for a better role by upstaging fellow cast members. Peter Crompton’s attractive set design provides the right milieu, and Brett Strader’s first-rate music direction is a pleasure.
The entire ensemble under M. Jane Erwin’s direction does its best to entertain over the nearly three-hour duration of the show. If you attend, make the most of it by challenging them to stay in character when they approach you and demand your vote. Later, they will line up for you in the lobby, where you can ask them what they think really happened to Edwin Drood.
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ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor Jeff Dunn is a retired educator and project manager who’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera, Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.
| Production | The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
|---|---|
| Written by | Rupert Holmes |
| Directed by | M. Jane Erwin |
| Producing Company | Lamplighters Music Theatre Co. |
| Production Dates | Through May 19th |
| Production Address | Presidio Fine Arts Center 99 Moraga Ave SF 94129 |
| Website | www.lamplighters.org |
| Telephone | (415) 392-4400 |
| Tickets | $65-$80 with Discounts available. |
| Reviewer Score | Max in each category is 5/5 |
| Overall | 4/5 |
| Performance | 4/5 |
| Book/Lyrics | 3.5/5 |
| Music | 3/5 |
| Stagecraft | 4/5 |
| Aisle Seat Review Pick? | ---- |